Beijing

Beijing is the capital of the People’s Republic of China, one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas, and home of 7 UNESCO World Heritage sites. It’s history also dates back to 3000 years ago. As one of Asia’s central hubs, it is also arguably China’s best craft beer city as it’s home to

Craft Breweries and Brew Pubs

Arrow Factory Brewing

From Arrow Factory’s homepage: “When long-time friends and Beijing residents Will Yorke and Thomas Gaestadius began brewing together in a shack on Arrow Factory Hutong, they sought to bring something new and fresh to Beijing’s growing beer scene. Their passion and hard work has produced a range of traditional styles as well as several unique beers for the thirsty masses, all served up with hand made sausages, meat pies, and other world class pub-grub.”

Great Leap

From their Facebook About page: “Started in 2010, Great Leap Brewing is Beijing’s first craft brewery and creates recipes based on the desire to foster a Chinese craft beer culture. Our philosophy is to source a majority of local products, including locally grown and processed hops, teas, spices, fruits, vegetables, coffees, sugars and honeys. We set out with the goal of brewing world-class beers, of which Beijing would be proud. Now it is our goal that to put Great Leap beer in the hands of as many people as possible, both in China and around the globe.”

Jing A Brewpub

From the homepage: “京A Brewing Co. is the brainchild of Kris and Alex, two North American guys and long-time Beijingers with a passion for great beer. One cold day in January 2012, they decided to homebrew a hop-forward American IPA to celebrate the coming Chinese New Year. The result, which they named “Hoppy New Year” (what else?!), was surprisingly good, and friends quickly finished off the batch and called for more… What began as a hobby with a couple pots and plastic buckets quickly became an obsession… Over the next few months they moved from brewing out of their apartments to borrowing commercial kitchens and guest brewing on other local systems. Finally, in Spring 2013 京A Brewing Co. established its own brewery inside The Big Smoke Bistro on Xingfucun.”

NBeer

Although it seems to completely lack a foreign or tourist friendly web presence (no FB, webpage, etc.), NBeer brews some great beer styles. Definitely worth checking out if you find them!

Panda Brew Pub

(14 Dongsi Beidajie, Dongcheng district; 东四北大街14号)

From TimeOutBeijing: “The newest installment in the string of venues and brewing operations with the Panda Brew label, this brewpub initially got our attention when it started slowly opening its doors late last year. From the get-go we wanted this addition to the growing craft beer scene to be good – we knew its sprawling three floors of hardwood tables, two bars and nine massive fermentation tanks had barrels of potential… read more

Slow Boat

From their Facebook About page: “SLOW BOAT BREWERY was founded in 2011 and is one of Beijing’s first craft breweries. We make world-class beer that challenges how people think of Chinese beer. We live, breathe and drink these ales in Beijing, the capital of China and city we call home. Fresh and unpasteurized. No preservatives. No chemicals. Just great beer.”

Sun-Thur: 11am-Midnight; Fri-Sat: 11am-2am

Taphouses, Pubs, and Restaurants

Arrow Factory Taphouse

From Arrow Factory’s homepage: “When long-time friends and Beijing residents Will Yorke and Thomas Gaestadius began brewing together in a shack on Arrow Factory Hutong, they sought to bring something new and fresh to Beijing’s growing beer scene. Their passion and hard work has produced a range of traditional styles as well as several unique beers for the thirsty masses, all served up with hand made sausages, meat pies, and other world class pub-grub.”

Mon-Fri: 17:00 – 01:00
Sat-Sun:11:30 – 01:00

Jing A Taproom

From the homepage: “京A Brewing Co. is the brainchild of Kris and Alex, two North American guys and long-time Beijingers with a passion for great beer. One cold day in January 2012, they decided to homebrew a hop-forward American IPA to celebrate the coming Chinese New Year. The result, which they named “Hoppy New Year” (what else?!), was surprisingly good, and friends quickly finished off the batch and called for more… What began as a hobby with a couple pots and plastic buckets quickly became an obsession… Over the next few months they moved from brewing out of their apartments to borrowing commercial kitchens and guest brewing on other local systems. Finally, in Spring 2013 京A Brewing Co. established its own brewery inside The Big Smoke Bistro on Xingfucun.”